September 9, 2020

POPAI Board Meeting Minutes for 09/09/2020

Adam opened the meeting, conducted through zoom, at 10:35 am.

Attending:

  • Adam McQueen, President
  • Troy Hatfield, Vice-President
  • C.J. Miller, Treasurer
  • Cherie Wood, Secretary
  • Robert Schuster, District 1 Rep
  • Heather Malone, District 2 Rep
  • Sarah Lochner, District 3 Rep
  • Melanie Pitstick, District 5 Rep
  • Andria Geigle, District 6 Rep
  • Michael Coriell, District 7 Rep
  • Mignon Ware, District 8 Rep
  • Greg Werich, Chief Exec Committee
  • Susan Rice, Training Coordinator
  • Esther Kaelin, JDAI Representative
  • Linda Brady, Past President

Also In Attendance:

Tiffany Byers and Lindsey Villalpando

Secretary's Report Adam asked if everyone had an opportunity to review the August Secretary’s Report. Heather  made a motion to accept. Andria seconded. All were in favor. Motion carried.

Treasurer's Report CJ provided the August Treasurer’s Report. As of August 31, 2020, the balance in savings was $17,080.01 and $64,956.10 in checking. Bob made a motion to accept and Sarah seconded. All were in favor. Motion carried. CJ also provided the updated budget report.

Membership As of September 2, 2020, we had 1,005 Total Current; 927 POs; 22 Corporate; 56 Other Susan stated registrations are arriving and many are paying the 2021 POPAI dues.

Education The 2020 POPAI Fall Conference will be September 16 and 17. Currently, we have 430 registered. Susan will ask Karen to send an email to the membership regarding registration and allowing additional time. Susan needs a few officers for a panel discussion at the end of the training. A discussion followed regarding scheduling the zoom meeting for our business meeting. Troy will advise the members we will offer door prizes for those in attendance at the business meeting. A discussion followed as to the best way to randomly draw names for the prizes and how to then notify the winners. 2021 Management Institute – To be decided after the POPAI Fall Conference.

Chief's Executive Committee The next meeting will be a Zoom meeting and is at 12pm EDT.

Juvenile Delinquency Alternative Initiative (JDAI) Update Esther reported: There will be a virtual “Office Hour” provided next week with Lisa Macaluso that will focus youth in secure detention and potential steps that could be taken to expedite their release if appropriate. The newest JDAI sites gathered virtually for the first-time last week to connect and learn more about JDAI. Registration for the virtual 2020 Indiana JDAI Inter-Site Conference will be released next week. There is no limit on number of participants and many sites are extending the invitation to their local community groups.

Probation Officer Advisory Board Update Next meeting is scheduled for October. Sarah will discuss adding POAB information to our quarterly report/etc

Election Michael stated there are not any contested elections. The slate will be: Pres – Adam McQueen; Sec – Cherie Wood; D2 – Heather Malone; D4 – Mike Small; D6 – Lindsey Villalpando; D8 – Mignon Ware

Awards and Recognition Annual awards have been posted on the website and nominations were due by August 17. Bob discussed the nominations and confirmation of the POPAI Membership. Susan verified the membership so Bob will send to CJ.

Indiana Evidence Based Decision Making (EBDM) Initiative Linda stated no report and it appears this is now part of JRAC.

Justice Reinvestment Advisory Council (JRAC) The last meeting was August 12 and next one is September 25. Adam stated there was a lot of discussion about funding for JRAC Grants, Recovery Works, etc. For 2021, at the State level, they have been asked to have 2-4% deficit in the budget. Normally, they are asked to have an increase of 2-4%. Adam discussed the jail study and additional information that has been requested. Adam sent the below email to a few counties: A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to participate in JRAC’s Jail Case Study Project. During our one and only meeting, thus far,  we reviewed jail populations for 91 counties at specific points of time during 2020.  Specifically, we compared snapshots from week 11 and week 30 for each jail. As can be seen below, each of our county jails experienced a significant drop in the overall population.

  1. Huntington (18 percent reduction)
  2. Monroe (12 percent reduction)
  3. Montgomery (46 percent reduction)
  4. Vanderburgh (11 percent reduction)
  5. Wayne (24 percent reduction)
It would be easy to explain these reductions away by pinning it all on COVID-19, but I and other members on this project believe there are likely deeper, more thoughtful explanations. For instance, in Wayne County, during this time frame, our Courts began to heavily utilize our Pre-trial Program. Further, local law enforcement changed arrest patterns (since March, the majority of Possession of Marijuana and DWLS cases have been cited into Court, as opposed to arrested). Further still, our jail has historically housed a number of inmates for other Counties and States.  I believe that practice has lessened, in part. So, the reason I am reaching out is that our five counties (along with 6 others) were selected for this case study and it made since to start those I personally know. I’d like to provide a little background information and ask for any information you are willing to and comfortable with providing.  If you want your responses to be kept anonymous or simply do not feel comfortable providing information, that is perfectly fine.  I promise not to take any offense to it. Background and Purpose of Case Study In 2019, the Justice Reinvestment Advisory Council (JRAC) published a Report on Bail Reform and Pretrial Issues, which offers recommendations to improve pretrial case processing and outcomes in five policy and practice areas: state and local collaboration, data and evaluation, community and jail-based behavioral health interventions, training and technical assistance, and legal and evidence-based pretrial practices. In addition, the General Assembly created the Jail Overcrowding Task Force to study reasons for jail overcrowding and to develop recommendations to address overcrowding and reduce recidivism through use of evidence-based practices. In this report, the Task Force made short and long term recommendations related to state and local collaboration and resources to support criminal justice initiatives, data collection and evaluation, behavioral health treatment programs, case processing, and community supervision. Building on these 2019 reports, the Justice Reinvestment Advisory Council is reviewing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on local jail populations. Self-report data from Indiana’s 91 jails indicate that most counties have had reductions in jail population from mid-March through the end of July, some of which were significant. To better understand factors influencing local jail populations during this time, JRAC is reaching out to criminal justice stakeholders in several counties to identify local strategies and collaborative efforts undertaken to help manage the jail population during the pandemic. Through this process, JRAC seeks to identify innovative practices that can continue post-pandemic and may be replicated in other counties to help manage local jail populations while protecting public safety. Please note that JRAC recognizes that the issue of jail overcrowding is complex, and not any one factor or condition is solely responsible for a trend in increases or decreases in local jail populations.
  1. Did your county convene criminal justice stakeholders to address issues related to the pandemic?
  1. If yes:
    1. Who was included in those meetings?
    2. How frequently did they meet?
    3. Were certain members of the stakeholder group in communication more frequently? If so, who?
    4. What topics were discussed?
  1. Did your county adopt any policy and practice changes that may have impacted the jail population, such citation in lieu of arrest, pretrial risk assessment and pretrial services, responses to community supervision violations, suspended warrant service, etc.?
  1. If your county adopted any changes as a result of the pandemic, will those practices be continued post-pandemic? Why or why not?
  1. Does your county’s jail management system allow you to reference both daily and historical jail census information including length of stay, charges, and hold type?
  1. What support or assistance can the state provide to help your county manage its jail population?
  1. Is there any additional information you would like to share with JRAC?

Legislation Legislative priorities for 2021 – Funding. Interim Study Committee on Corrections and Criminal Code – Meetings are scheduled for September 15, 22 and October 6 at 11am. Linda believes they will allow testimony from a separate rooms in the State House.

Technology Karen sent everyone the report prior to the meeting.

Old Business PPM and BY LAWS: Sarah has continued to update and Troy stated if anyone has additional comments, please let her know. Workload/caseload is on the backburner right now>. Commission for Race and Fairness: No updates. Old Business: Conference Planner (Conference and Recruitment Coordinator) and Membership Coordinator – Job Descriptions/Contracts Adam explained the Executive Board communicated by email and by Zoom to prepare new job descriptions for both positions and the contract for both. Troy emailed the proposals to everyone prior to today’s meeting. The structure of the financial component of both positions changed slightly and we became more specific in the job descriptions/deadlines/etc. Susan stated she is open to whatever we need her to do to assist us with the transition. A discussion followed regarding the some of the specific contents of the proposals. Troy made a motion to post the job positions on the website and to form a committee to review the applications that are submitted. Cherie seconded. All were in favor. Motion carried. Adam will form the committee at our next meeting. Annual Business Meeting Planning – September 16 at 12pm via Zoom Troy will set up the zoom meeting for our annual business meeting. Sarah will assist with any issues that may arise. Adam will host the business meeting. We will schedule a call on 9-15 to finalize everything for the business meeting.

New Business Quarterly update letter – Adam has been working on the letter to send to the membership. Adam talked to Karen and Karen can send the district reps the list of members in their specific district. The board members supported the letter that Adam has prepared and Mignon suggested the district reps ask the members if there is specific information they would like to receive. Discussion followed the process for submitting the interest to the open positions. We will request a resume and letter of interest.

Next Meeting Executive Board Meeting –Executive Board Meeting – Wednesday, October 14, 2020 at 10:30 a.m. EDT via Zoom